Immigrants from Ireland came for a variety of reasons; however the most popular reason for emigrating from Ireland was the Potato Famine that struck the country in 1845. A majority of the families living in Ireland lived off of potatoes, and when the famine hit, they were unable to feed themselves or make a living off of farming potatoes. This forced the starving families to immigrate to America. It is estimated that nearly half a million Irish immigrants came to America during the five years of the famine. When they arrived, the Irish were faced with widespread prejudice, not only for the nationality, but for their religion. Most of them were Catholics, who were not looked highly upon by Americans at this time. This forced the Irish to create their own communities, apart from other immigrants and Americans. One of the most prominent forms of art the Irish have brought to America is their music. Traditional Celtic music helped the immigrants keep their heritage close to them when they arrived in America. As there was widespread prejudice against the Irish in the U.S., their music helped them persevere by preserving their culture and background. Not only this, but to accompany their music, they brought traditional Irish dance. The piece of media that I chose was a song by the Shilelagh Law, a band made of five Irish immigrants. The song, “When New York Was Irish,” describes the life of Irish immigrants living in America, and how they used to live. Though this song isn’t about the original Irish immigrants of the 1800’s, a parallel can be drawn between the themes of this song and the feelings of those who emigrated from Ireland. The lines “we started with nothing/and wound up with it all” are a perfect example of this. When the Irish immigrants of 1845 arrived in America, they literally had nothing besides what they brought with them, which wasn’t much. They were discriminated against and had a hard time adjusting to the ridicule of their nationality and their religion. However, after they lived in America for a while, they were more or less welcomed into society and accepted. Now, Irish Americans are one of the largest nationalities in the U.S., and their music and dance has carried on as well. Riverdance is a wildly popular performance of Celtic music and dance, and is performed throughout the country. Traditional Irish music came with the immigrants when they first arrived, and it has still sustained popularity, through bands like the Shilelagh Law and even Irish American bands like Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys, who have remixed original Irish songs into popular American punk/rock. I chose music as my example of Irish culture coming to American society because as an Irish American, I have personal memories of Irish music. My grandma has been singing and playing Irish songs since I was very little, and I have committed many of them to memory. I know her mother and grandmother, who were both immigrants from Ireland, used to sing them to her as well, and both my grandma and I used to be Irish dancers. It’s a way that my heritage has been passed down to me, and I know that I’ll expose my children to these same conventions.
Concert Poster for the Irish American Band "Flogging Molly"
We learned in class the general reoccurring themes of American art and many of those are displayed in immigrant art as well, especially Irish American art. In Irish art there are no doubt themes revolving around journey, family, and hard work. This plays into the American voice as well. The American voice is known to be about the “self-made man working hard to get to the top” and “with a little hard work, anything is possible for anyone.” Additionally, journey is a theme of the American voice more than anything. The idea that immigrants went on a long journey to get to the “land of opportunity” is an original theme of American immigrant art and part of the American immigrant voice. Overall, the themes displayed in American art and the American voice can be seen also in Irish American art, mostly because they’re not just the Irish anymore, they’re Irish Americans.
Brian Scalebrine, a true Irishman loving the game of basketball. When Celtics founder and owner, Walter Brown thought of what to name his basketball franchise, he chose, “The Celtics! We'll call them the Boston Celtics! The name has a great basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York. And, Boston is full of Irishmen. We'll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics!" Boston and the New England area are home to the largest number of Irish immigrants.
Pat Dyer's Space
DragonSlayerMagicManBigMeechPat's Space
Between 1814 and 1860 Irish immigrants made up almost half of all the American immigrants. These immigrants traveled from Ireland directly to America and sometimes indirectly through Canada. Many of these Irish immigrants were small farmers in Ireland and left because of high rents and nearly impossible taxes. This along with the Great Potato Famine from 1845-1852 led to mass amounts of Irish immigrants into America. By 1840 Boston was populated by 35% immigrants and of those immigrants, 75% of those immigrants were Irish. The Irish were usually very poor when they arrived in America and many of them worked on the construction of the Erie Canal, which was work that left them open to malaria, typhus, and other diseases. They would do this labor for the small wage of 50 cents up to $1.50 per day. Also when Irish arrived they did not encounter hospitality; the majority of the immigrants were very poor, unskilled workers in anything but farming, and lastly when they arrived some only spoke Gaelic. This is why Irish immigrated to America in the 19th century.
The Irish Tenors are three super neat Irish Immigrants who came to America to sing harmoniously together, in the song "Isle of hope, Isle of Tears" the Tenors sing about a woman's experiences coming to America through Ellis Island.
The song “Isle of Hope, Isle of Fear” written and sung harmoniously by The Irish Tenors was chosen because it describes perfectly the journey of an Irish woman immigrant as she comes to America. As this woman sees the isle of hope which is Ellis Island, she fears what the new country has in store for her. It also says she always keeps in mind, the isle of home which is Ireland. This is a characteristic of many Irish immigrants because as they came to America to have a better life they remained loyal to their home country of Ireland. The second piece of art chosen was painted by Irish immigrant artist, Thomas Hovenden. It depicts slavery abolitionist John Brown being taken to his execution for protesting slavery and leading armadas for the freedom of slaves. This painting is very realistic, typical of art created during the 19th century, especially in America.
Thomas Hovenden’s painting, “The Last Moments of John Brown” show a let down from the high expectations of immigrants that came to America. While Hovenden escaped oppression in Ireland, he came to America and witnessed more severe oppression of African Americans. As a new citizen in the Land of the Free, Hovenden saw John Brown, a man of freedom, sentenced to death for helping African Americans. The song “Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears” shows the theme of hope coming to a new land. The woman in this song left Ireland in order to have a better life in America Irish immigrants came to America to escape poverty and oppression. Although Ireland was in dismay when many immigrants left, the Irish brought along many of their own customs and their culture has influenced America. The Irish were especially affluent in the New England area, and more specifically, Boson. Boston even named their basketball franchise the Celtics because of the heavy infiltration to this area. My ancestors came to America from Ireland, and many of my cousins still practice the art of Irish dance. On March 17th every year it seems as if everyone is Irish because many cities and towns hold annual celebrations and parades for Saint Patrick’s Day. My name, Patrick, is on the most Irish names one can have because of Saint Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland.
"The Last Moments of John Brown" painted by Irish immigrant Thomas Hovenden shows John Brown, a slavery abolitionist being taken by the US government to be sentenced to death.
Irish Immigration by Gabby Pirrone The Irish were one of the many cultures that immigrated to the U.S. The Irish largely came to the United States from 1820 to 1920. During that time 5 million Irish immigrants came to the United States for a better life! Most of them left Ireland because between the years 1846 and 1855 there was a massive loss of the potato crop. The Irish population started to decline because of this loss and more than 1 million Irishmen died of starvation and famine related disease from the loss of this crop. The result was the Irish immigrated to the U.S. to have a better and healthier life. Before they came to the United States their expectations were high. When they got to the U.S. life was not they imagined it to be. The Irish lived in some of the poorest areas in lower Manhattan. Their homes were either basements, cellars, and one- roomed apartments which had no light and ventilation and also had frequent flooding of sewage. Since their homes were so horrid most Irishmen suffered from deadly diseases. For example: cholera, yellow fever, typhus, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. To make things even worse getting a job was just as hard for an Irishmen especially because the Irish were very unskilled and they worked for low wages. Finally, the Irish brought their Catholicism as their cultural addition to the “melting pot” considering that it was the most important thing that made up an Irish-American!
The Irish brought their Catholicism to America and since they are very religious they can’t sacrifice their religious and cultural heritage. Before they came to America, when they lived in Ireland many Irish people lived off the potato crop. It was said that potatoes were the staple of the Irish diet. When there was a loss in the crop many Irishmen got severely ill and some died. This Irish sculpture named Rowan Gillespie made sculptures of some of the victims that suffered from the loss of the potato crop. Some of his sculptures he created are part of the Ireland Park Foundation in Toronto in Canada where many of the Irish victims had gone and died. Since so many died from famine they decided to come to America and that’s how they were able to contribute their Catholicism to other cultures. Another piece of work from an Irishmen named Joseph Campbell who wrote a poem called Emigrant. This piece talks about farmers being forced to leave their homeland because the British government took away excess food after the famine, and the land lords took their money. The Irish farmers then immigrated out west in search of land and to work on the railroads. They perused their dreams and took wagon trains out to the Oklahoma territory and competed in great land races! Finally this shows that the Irish brought their sense of perseverance to America and their contributions to the Westward Expansion of our country were invaluable.
In the pieces of media made by Rowan Gillespie and Joseph Campbell there are many themes that show the true American Voice! The first main theme is fighting for the American dream. The sculptures that were inspired by the victims of the potato crop famine, fought for the American dream by they were trying to live for as long as they could so someday their family would go to America to live a better life. In the poem Emigrant written by Joseph Campbell, he wrote about Irish farmers that were forced to leave their home-land because the British took all of their excess food after the famine. This shows they fought to find land in the West and to find a job working in the underground railroads. This concludes that they achieved their goal. Finally, the last theme is high expectations. The Irish people that survived and didn’t survive the famine like the victims that Rowan Gillespie made, had high expectations when they came to America. Life there is not what they had in mind. For the Irish, America was not up to their ideals. For the Irish farmers in the poem their expectations of finding a home in the West and a job were pretty high considering they were forced out of their home-land. In conclusion life for the Irish was hard when they immigrated to America. In the future everything works out when they had their life in order and when they have a safe and healthy home for their family; everything will fall right into place!
The Emigrant
by Joseph Campbell,
Irishry 1913
from The Oxford Book of Ireland
The car is yoked before the door,
And time will let us dance no more.
Come, fiddler, now, and play for me
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
To-day the fields looked wet and cold,
The mearings gapped, the cattle old.
Things are not what they used to be -
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
I go, without the heart to go,
To kindred that I hardly know.
Drink, neighbour, drink a health with me -
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
Five hours will see me stowed aboard,
The gang-plank up, the ship unmoored.
Christ grant no tempest shakes the sea -
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
Fin's Space IRISH IMMIGRATION Even though America is home to thousands of different races and nationalities, the largest immigrant group in America was the Irish. In the colonial era, the Irish were the largest immigrant group and up until the 1930’s, an average of 20,000 Irish people were arriving into the US every year. In the 1600’s Oliver Cromwell, the revolutionary English leader, pushed his armies into Ireland and conquered most of the small island. This started great animosity between the two islands and atrocities were committed by both sides. The Irish came to avoid persecution because they were mostly Catholic and the Protestants were Protestant. Yet as trouble and poverty increased in Ireland, more and more people immigrated to America. After the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, the textile industry plummeted and since it was a major product of Irelands, thousands lost their jobs. With the failing economy, poor Irish farmers could not pay their rich Protestant English landlords and were evicted off of their lands. Finally, a massive potato famine saw the destruction of Ireland’s major crops, starving thousands. The Irish saw America as a land of opportunity, and when they saw the jobs in infrastructure and the unclaimed lands out west, they moved to America in droves. They immigrated largely to the eastern port cities like Boston, New York, Halifax, and others. Then some started moving west or south, but many remained in the large port cities and thrived. The Irish encountered heavy racism and stereotypes from the locals, yet more and more came because they needed a new start. Irish immigration led to some great contributions to American art and culture. Ireland was very well known for its literature, most known being James Joyce and his Ulysses, one of the most read and influential novels of all time. The Irish brought their rich culture and folklore to America and helped add to America’s vast melting pot. This mural was painted by Irish immigrants in South Boston, showing multiple Irish and cultural flags on the sides and the Catholic cross in the middle.
A mural painted by Irish immigrants in South Boston
This mural alludes to groups such as the Fenian Brotherhood and the IRA, dedicated to freeing their country by causing terror and chaos in Northern Ireland and Canada, with the word NORAID (Irish Northern Aid Committee)on it, a committee accused of funding the IRA and supplying them with arms. Another piece of art created by and immigrant was My Left Foot, the true story of an
A poster for My Left Foot, a Film directed by immigrant Jim Sheridan
Irishman, Christy Brown, with cerebral palsy and who could only move his left foot and became an artist and writer. This film was directed by Jim Sheridan, who was born in Dublin and immigrated to the US in 1989. Sheridan brought his own experiences as an immigrant and the son of a railroad worker into the film and tried to give the film more meaning. This film is regarded as a classic, memorable film and won two Academy Awards. These pieces of art show the hard work of the Irish and the dedication they have to their culture. These pieces of artwork also relate to the whole of America. The mural represents dedication to heritage and one’s roots, which is a common theme across America. People always are proud of who they are and where they came from, and so they like to support their origins and represent their roots. The Irish are especially proud of their roots and supported groups like the IRA to free their homeland and pay back the British for what they had done in the past. This mural portrays Irish nationalism and alludes to the mass nationalism of one’s homeland in America. The film My Left Foot shows the dedication people have to survive and the overall will to be successful. Christy Brown was born disabled, yet he tried and tried and through his efforts became a famous artist and a hero to the infirmed and disabled. People like to see a person overcoming great odds and becoming famous and revered, and this sort of “underdog” story has become a huge part of our culture. These pieces of art represent American themes found all over American art, and show how Irish immigrants have added greatly to our unique and vast culture. TheIrishImmigrants
By:KellyKalis The Irish immigrants came over to America between the years of 1815 and 1850. The primary reason for their flee to America was due to the potato famine that lasted for five years from 1845 to 1850. Since many Irish peasants were farmers in daily life, this famine had caused disease and completely wiped out the potato crop as a food source, making it even more difficult for the common Irish to make a living. As a result of this, more than half of a million Irish men and women were forced to leave their homes, causing them to journey to America. As the Irish were spilling into America, they would soon encounter a number of things. They would face horrid discrimination as immigrants in this country because of their Catholic faith. Before the Irish came over, the United States was essentially dominated by the Protestant religion. Therefore they were not greeted with a warm welcome. Not only were the Irish discriminated against for Catholicism, but their eagerness to work for extremely low wages. All the Irish wanted was to make some money to make a living coming from the famine, demonstrating their great work ethic. The ordinary people of America saw this as a threat for their own job opportunities, creating yet another reason to hate the Irish immigrants. At the time many of the Irish were stereotyped as drunken, loud and disorderly when in reality they had contributed a whole lot of hard work in America. The Irish contributed several things to the so called “melting pot” of cultures in America, including the role of Catholicism as a religion in America along with their hard work ethic. However, the Irish men and women faced much discrimination throughout America. The poem “No Irish Need Apply” written by Kathleen O’Neil, demonstrates this concept of how strongly the Irish were discriminated against and that they simply “did not apply.” This young girl speaks of how she feels about not applying to America and how insulting it is to Irish immigrants. The people of America adopted this attitude of “No Irish Need Apply” and it made it harder for the Irish to get jobs and created more stereotypes against them. This was chosen because it represents the true reality of what all Irish immigrants were forced to go through, clearly showing an importance. The other media piece, “Poor Paddy on the Railway,” by Irish immigrant Luke Kelly, is a song that demonstrates another contribution of the Irish. It shows how when the Irish made their journey to come to America, they played a huge role in the building of the railroad during the civil war, but yet were still highly discriminated against. The song’s primary focus is how all the Irish did all day long was work on this railway and how this is all they did once they ended up in America. This song shows a significant contribution of the Irish as well as demonstrating their work ethic that they brought to America. There were several themes presented in these works of the Irish immigrants, which are highly related to the overall immigrant experience in America. The major theme in “No Irish Need Apply” and even “Poor Paddy on the Railway” is discrimination. It is clearly shown that the Irish were discriminated against due to the fact that they would work for low wages and that they were Catholic. Yet since there were so many stereotypes against them being drunk, disorderly and violent people, it was hard for the Irish to even get jobs. Discrimination is also a part of the overall American artistic voice because the Irish were only one of the many groups discriminated against. The people of America were discriminatory against anyone who threatened to make their lives a bit more difficult. Although discrimination is a huge theme in these media pieces, hope is also another theme, especially in “No Irish Need Apply.” Even though the Irish seemed to be hated by many, the hope that they had for their lives to get better was tremendous. By coming from the famine in Ireland, it shows the hope they had for a new future ahead of them. America was seen as a place of opportunity, hence why there were so many immigrants in the first place. The American artistic voice demonstrates a theme of hope through all the groups of immigrants who looked forward to a chance for a new beginning and all the opportunities to come.
The poem, "No Irish Need Apply," originally written by Kathleen O'Neil was composed as a song as a demonstration of how much of an impact discrimination had on the Irish immigrants.
The song, "Poor Paddy on the Railway," is a piece that shows how the Irish immigrants were hard at work during the Civil War on the railway.
An Album Cover for Flogging Molly
James's Space Irish Immigration to America
The history of Ireland has always been filled with tragedy and sorrow. When the Irish decided to emmigrate, it was mainly because of these reasons. Irish Americans have had some success in America while others haven't been able to achieve prosperity. Large numbers of Irish citizens immigrated to America due to starvation, especially the Potato Blight of the mid 19th century. Thepotato is such an important food in Ireland due to its high numbers of production and its affordable cost. When the potato crops went south the population was faced with great starvation. Around a fourth of the population was solely dependent on the potato and another half of the population was solely dependent on the potato and another half of the population heavily relied on it. So when the potato crops went through a period of difficulty so did around 75 percent of the population. For this percentage of the population there was almost no means of survival in their native land. Faced witih this crisis, many Irish citizens decided to immigrate to America in search of food, survival, and opportunity. Another reason that Irish citizens decided to leave their homeland was because of the English. After the English government merged with the Irish government, Protestant masters started to deliver religious prejudice towards Irish Catholics. England was officially a protestant country so they didn't support the Catholics in Ireland. To escape persecution and prejudice, many Irish Catholics decided to immigrate to America.This let them persue religous freedom and toleration. While many Irish Americans may have had only a small skill set and didn't succed in America, many Irish Americans have been succesful, especially the Irish American artists. Jim Sheridan, the Irish American film director who hails from Dublin has had a plethera of success. He has been nominated for six Academy-Awards. Among his most succesful films is the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin' which is based on the life of the rapper 50 Cent. Sheridan has also put out 8 other movies and is workign on two more for 2011. The future looks bright for this Irish American atrist. Dave King is another Irish American and he is better known for being in the band "Flogging Molly". He is the lead singer and has had great success. He emigrated to America when he was 20 years old and put out his first album with the group in 1993. He has had much success in America and is an inspiration to many Irish American artists. I chose these two artists because they show the success that Irish Americans have had in America and how they have been able to achieve their dreams.
Lizzy's Space!Irish Immigration
Immigrants from Ireland came for a variety of reasons; however the most popular reason for emigrating from Ireland was the Potato Famine that struck the country in 1845. A majority of the families living in Ireland lived off of potatoes, and when the famine hit, they were unable to feed themselves or make a living off of farming potatoes. This forced the starving families to immigrate to America. It is estimated that nearly half a million Irish immigrants came to America during the five years of the famine. When they arrived, the Irish were faced with widespread prejudice, not only for the nationality, but for their religion. Most of them were Catholics, who were not looked highly upon by Americans at this time. This forced the Irish to create their own communities, apart from other immigrants and Americans.
One of the most prominent forms of art the Irish have brought to America is their music. Traditional Celtic music helped the immigrants keep their heritage close to them when they arrived in America. As there was widespread prejudice against the Irish in the U.S., their music helped them persevere by preserving their culture and background. Not only this, but to accompany their music, they brought traditional Irish dance. The piece of media that I chose was a song by the Shilelagh Law, a band made of five Irish immigrants. The song, “When New York Was Irish,” describes the life of Irish immigrants living in America, and how they used to live. Though this song isn’t about the original Irish immigrants of the 1800’s, a parallel can be drawn between the themes of this song and the feelings of those who emigrated from Ireland. The lines “we started with nothing/and wound up with it all” are a perfect example of this. When the Irish immigrants of 1845 arrived in America, they literally had nothing besides what they brought with them, which wasn’t much. They were discriminated against and had a hard time adjusting to the ridicule of their nationality and their religion. However, after they lived in America for a while, they were more or less welcomed into society and accepted. Now, Irish Americans are one of the largest nationalities in the U.S., and their music and dance has carried on as well. Riverdance is a wildly popular performance of Celtic music and dance, and is performed throughout the country. Traditional Irish music came with the immigrants when they first arrived, and it has still sustained popularity, through bands like the Shilelagh Law and even Irish American bands like Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys, who have remixed original Irish songs into popular American punk/rock. I chose music as my example of Irish culture coming to American society because as an Irish American, I have personal memories of Irish music. My grandma has been singing and playing Irish songs since I was very little, and I have committed many of them to memory. I know her mother and grandmother, who were both immigrants from Ireland, used to sing them to her as well, and both my grandma and I used to be Irish dancers. It’s a way that my heritage has been passed down to me, and I know that I’ll expose my children to these same conventions.
Between 1814 and 1860 Irish immigrants made up almost half of all the American immigrants. These immigrants traveled from Ireland directly to America and sometimes indirectly through Canada. Many of these Irish immigrants were small farmers in Ireland and left because of high rents and nearly impossible taxes. This along with the Great Potato Famine from 1845-1852 led to mass amounts of Irish immigrants into America. By 1840 Boston was populated by 35% immigrants and of those immigrants, 75% of those immigrants were Irish. The Irish were usually very poor when they arrived in America and many of them worked on the construction of the Erie Canal, which was work that left them open to malaria, typhus, and other diseases. They would do this labor for the small wage of 50 cents up to $1.50 per day. Also when Irish arrived they did not encounter hospitality; the majority of the immigrants were very poor, unskilled workers in anything but farming, and lastly when they arrived some only spoke Gaelic. This is why Irish immigrated to America in the 19th century.
The Irish Tenors are three super neat Irish Immigrants who came to America to sing harmoniously together, in the song "Isle of hope, Isle of Tears" the Tenors sing about a woman's experiences coming to America through Ellis Island.
The song “Isle of Hope, Isle of Fear” written and sung harmoniously by The Irish Tenors was chosen because it describes perfectly the journey of an Irish woman immigrant as she comes to America. As this woman sees the isle of hope which is Ellis Island, she fears what the new country has in store for her. It also says she always keeps in mind, the isle of home which is Ireland. This is a characteristic of many Irish immigrants because as they came to America to have a better life they remained loyal to their home country of Ireland. The second piece of art chosen was painted by Irish immigrant artist, Thomas Hovenden. It depicts slavery abolitionist John Brown being taken to his execution for protesting slavery and leading armadas for the freedom of slaves. This painting is very realistic, typical of art created during the 19th century, especially in America.
Thomas Hovenden’s painting, “The Last Moments of John Brown” show a let down from the high expectations of immigrants that came to America. While Hovenden escaped oppression in Ireland, he came to America and witnessed more severe oppression of African Americans. As a new citizen in the Land of the Free, Hovenden saw John Brown, a man of freedom, sentenced to death for helping African Americans. The song “Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears” shows the theme of hope coming to a new land. The woman in this song left Ireland in order to have a better life in America Irish immigrants came to America to escape poverty and oppression. Although Ireland was in dismay when many immigrants left, the Irish brought along many of their own customs and their culture has influenced America. The Irish were especially affluent in the New England area, and more specifically, Boson. Boston even named their basketball franchise the Celtics because of the heavy infiltration to this area. My ancestors came to America from Ireland, and many of my cousins still practice the art of Irish dance. On March 17th every year it seems as if everyone is Irish because many cities and towns hold annual celebrations and parades for Saint Patrick’s Day. My name, Patrick, is on the most Irish names one can have because of Saint Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland.
Irish Immigration by Gabby Pirrone
The Irish were one of the many cultures that immigrated to the U.S. The Irish largely came to the United States from 1820 to 1920. During that time 5 million Irish immigrants came to the United States for a better life! Most of them left Ireland because between the years 1846 and 1855 there was a massive loss of the potato crop. The Irish population started to decline because of this loss and more than 1 million Irishmen died of starvation and famine related disease from the loss of this crop. The result was the Irish immigrated to the U.S. to have a better and healthier life. Before they came to the United States their expectations were high. When they got to the U.S. life was not they imagined it to be. The Irish lived in some of the poorest areas in lower Manhattan. Their homes were either basements, cellars, and one- roomed apartments which had no light and ventilation and also had frequent flooding of sewage. Since their homes were so horrid most Irishmen suffered from deadly diseases. For example: cholera, yellow fever, typhus, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. To make things even worse getting a job was just as hard for an Irishmen especially because the Irish were very unskilled and they worked for low wages. Finally, the Irish brought their Catholicism as their cultural addition to the “melting pot” considering that it was the most important thing that made up an Irish-American!
The Irish brought their Catholicism to America and since they are very religious they can’t sacrifice their religious and cultural heritage. Before they came to America, when they lived in Ireland many Irish people lived off the potato crop. It was said that potatoes were the staple of the Irish diet. When there was a loss in the crop many Irishmen got severely ill and some died. This Irish sculpture named Rowan Gillespie made sculptures of some of the victims that suffered from the loss of the potato crop. Some of his sculptures he created are part of the Ireland Park Foundation in Toronto in Canada where many of the Irish victims had gone and died. Since so many died from famine they decided to come to America and that’s how they were able to contribute their Catholicism to other cultures. Another piece of work from an Irishmen named Joseph Campbell who wrote a poem called Emigrant. This piece talks about farmers being forced to leave their homeland because the British government took away excess food after the famine, and the land lords took their money. The Irish farmers then immigrated out west in search of land and to work on the railroads. They perused their dreams and took wagon trains out to the Oklahoma territory and competed in great land races! Finally this shows that the Irish brought their sense of perseverance to America and their contributions to the Westward Expansion of our country were invaluable.
In the pieces of media made by Rowan Gillespie and Joseph Campbell there are many themes that show the true American Voice! The first main theme is fighting for the American dream. The sculptures that were inspired by the victims of the potato crop famine, fought for the American dream by they were trying to live for as long as they could so someday their family would go to America to live a better life. In the poem Emigrant written by Joseph Campbell, he wrote about Irish farmers that were forced to leave their home-land because the British took all of their excess food after the famine. This shows they fought to find land in the West and to find a job working in the underground railroads. This concludes that they achieved their goal. Finally, the last theme is high expectations. The Irish people that survived and didn’t survive the famine like the victims that Rowan Gillespie made, had high expectations when they came to America. Life there is not what they had in mind. For the Irish, America was not up to their ideals. For the Irish farmers in the poem their expectations of finding a home in the West and a job were pretty high considering they were forced out of their home-land. In conclusion life for the Irish was hard when they immigrated to America. In the future everything works out when they had their life in order and when they have a safe and healthy home for their family; everything will fall right into place!
The Emigrant
by Joseph Campbell,
Irishry 1913
from The Oxford Book of Ireland
And time will let us dance no more.
Come, fiddler, now, and play for me
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
To-day the fields looked wet and cold,
The mearings gapped, the cattle old.
Things are not what they used to be -
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
I go, without the heart to go,
To kindred that I hardly know.
Drink, neighbour, drink a health with me -
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
Five hours will see me stowed aboard,
The gang-plank up, the ship unmoored.
Christ grant no tempest shakes the sea -
'Farewell to barn and stack and tree.'
Fin's Space
IRISH IMMIGRATION
Even though America is home to thousands of different races and nationalities, the largest immigrant group in America was the Irish. In the colonial era, the Irish were the largest immigrant group and up until the 1930’s, an average of 20,000 Irish people were arriving into the US every year. In the 1600’s Oliver Cromwell, the revolutionary English leader, pushed his armies into Ireland and conquered most of the small island. This started great animosity between the two islands and atrocities were committed by both sides. The Irish came to avoid persecution because they were mostly Catholic and the Protestants were Protestant. Yet as trouble and poverty increased in Ireland, more and more people immigrated to America. After the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, the textile industry plummeted and since it was a major product of Irelands, thousands lost their jobs. With the failing economy, poor Irish farmers could not pay their rich Protestant English landlords and were evicted off of their lands. Finally, a massive potato famine saw the destruction of Ireland’s major crops, starving thousands. The Irish saw America as a land of opportunity, and when they saw the jobs in infrastructure and the unclaimed lands out west, they moved to America in droves. They immigrated largely to the eastern port cities like Boston, New York, Halifax, and others. Then some started moving west or south, but many remained in the large port cities and thrived. The Irish encountered heavy racism and stereotypes from the locals, yet more and more came because they needed a new start.
Irish immigration led to some great contributions to American art and culture. Ireland was very well known for its literature, most known being James Joyce and his Ulysses, one of the most read and influential novels of all time. The Irish brought their rich culture and folklore to America and helped add to America’s vast melting pot. This mural was painted by Irish immigrants in South Boston, showing multiple Irish and cultural flags on the sides and the Catholic cross in the middle.
These pieces of artwork also relate to the whole of America. The mural represents dedication to heritage and one’s roots, which is a common theme across America. People always are proud of who they are and where they came from, and so they like to support their origins and represent their roots. The Irish are especially proud of their roots and supported groups like the IRA to free their homeland and pay back the British for what they had done in the past. This mural portrays Irish nationalism and alludes to the mass nationalism of one’s homeland in America. The film My Left Foot shows the dedication people have to survive and the overall will to be successful. Christy Brown was born disabled, yet he tried and tried and through his efforts became a famous artist and a hero to the infirmed and disabled. People like to see a person overcoming great odds and becoming famous and revered, and this sort of “underdog” story has become a huge part of our culture. These pieces of art represent American themes found all over American art, and show how Irish immigrants have added greatly to our unique and vast culture.
The Irish Immigrants
By: Kelly Kalis
The Irish immigrants came over to America between the years of 1815 and 1850. The primary reason for their flee to America was due to the potato famine that lasted for five years from 1845 to 1850. Since many Irish peasants were farmers in daily life, this famine had caused disease and completely wiped out the potato crop as a food source, making it even more difficult for the common Irish to make a living. As a result of this, more than half of a million Irish men and women were forced to leave their homes, causing them to journey to America. As the Irish were spilling into America, they would soon encounter a number of things. They would face horrid discrimination as immigrants in this country because of their Catholic faith. Before the Irish came over, the United States was essentially dominated by the Protestant religion. Therefore they were not greeted with a warm welcome. Not only were the Irish discriminated against for Catholicism, but their eagerness to work for extremely low wages. All the Irish wanted was to make some money to make a living coming from the famine, demonstrating their great work ethic. The ordinary people of America saw this as a threat for their own job opportunities, creating yet another reason to hate the Irish immigrants. At the time many of the Irish were stereotyped as drunken, loud and disorderly when in reality they had contributed a whole lot of hard work in America.
The Irish contributed several things to the so called “melting pot” of cultures in America, including the role of Catholicism as a religion in America along with their hard work ethic. However, the Irish men and women faced much discrimination throughout America. The poem “No Irish Need Apply” written by Kathleen O’Neil, demonstrates this concept of how strongly the Irish were discriminated against and that they simply “did not apply.” This young girl speaks of how she feels about not applying to America and how insulting it is to Irish immigrants. The people of America adopted this attitude of “No Irish Need Apply” and it made it harder for the Irish to get jobs and created more stereotypes against them. This was chosen because it represents the true reality of what all Irish immigrants were forced to go through, clearly showing an importance. The other media piece, “Poor Paddy on the Railway,” by Irish immigrant Luke Kelly, is a song that demonstrates another contribution of the Irish. It shows how when the Irish made their journey to come to America, they played a huge role in the building of the railroad during the civil war, but yet were still highly discriminated against. The song’s primary focus is how all the Irish did all day long was work on this railway and how this is all they did once they ended up in America. This song shows a significant contribution of the Irish as well as demonstrating their work ethic that they brought to America.
There were several themes presented in these works of the Irish immigrants, which are highly related to the overall immigrant experience in America. The major theme in “No Irish Need Apply” and even “Poor Paddy on the Railway” is discrimination. It is clearly shown that the Irish were discriminated against due to the fact that they would work for low wages and that they were Catholic. Yet since there were so many stereotypes against them being drunk, disorderly and violent people, it was hard for the Irish to even get jobs. Discrimination is also a part of the overall American artistic voice because the Irish were only one of the many groups discriminated against. The people of America were discriminatory against anyone who threatened to make their lives a bit more difficult. Although discrimination is a huge theme in these media pieces, hope is also another theme, especially in “No Irish Need Apply.” Even though the Irish seemed to be hated by many, the hope that they had for their lives to get better was tremendous. By coming from the famine in Ireland, it shows the hope they had for a new future ahead of them. America was seen as a place of opportunity, hence why there were so many immigrants in the first place. The American artistic voice demonstrates a theme of hope through all the groups of immigrants who looked forward to a chance for a new beginning and all the opportunities to come.
The song, "Poor Paddy on the Railway," is a piece that shows how the Irish immigrants were hard at work during the Civil War on the railway.
James's Space
Irish Immigration to America
The history of Ireland has always been filled with tragedy and sorrow. When the Irish decided to emmigrate, it was mainly because of these reasons. Irish Americans have had some success in America while others haven't been able to achieve prosperity. Large numbers of Irish citizens immigrated to America due to starvation, especially the Potato Blight of the mid 19th century. Thepotato is such an important food in Ireland due to its high numbers of production and its affordable cost. When the potato crops went south the population was faced with great starvation. Around a fourth of the population was solely dependent on the potato and another half of the population was solely dependent on the potato and another half of the population heavily relied on it. So when the potato crops went through a period of difficulty so did around 75 percent of the population. For this percentage of the population there was almost no means of survival in their native land. Faced witih this crisis, many Irish citizens decided to immigrate to America in search of food, survival, and opportunity.
Another reason that Irish citizens decided to leave their homeland was because of the English. After the English government merged with the Irish government, Protestant masters started to deliver religious prejudice towards Irish Catholics. England was officially a protestant country so they didn't support the Catholics in Ireland. To escape persecution and prejudice, many Irish Catholics decided to immigrate to America.This let them persue religous freedom and toleration.
While many Irish Americans may have had only a small skill set and didn't succed in America, many Irish Americans have been succesful, especially the Irish American artists. Jim Sheridan, the Irish American film director who hails from Dublin has had a plethera of success. He has been nominated for six Academy-Awards. Among his most succesful films is the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin' which is based on the life of the rapper 50 Cent. Sheridan has also put out 8 other movies and is workign on two more for 2011. The future looks bright for this Irish American atrist.
Dave King is another Irish American and he is better known for being in the band "Flogging Molly". He is the lead singer and has had great success. He emigrated to America when he was 20 years old and put out his first album with the group in 1993. He has had much success in America and is an inspiration to many Irish American artists. I chose these two artists because they show the success that Irish Americans have had in America and how they have been able to achieve their dreams.